“You Can’t Take It With You,” by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, endorses those things that, well, you can’t take with you. The play celebrates family, friendship and fun and disparages worldly belongings, wealth and prestige. Leslie Joy Coleman (Director) chose the 1936 play for the Desert Rose Playhouse because of this timeless theme. Yet the play is surprisingly timely and speaks to current concerns.

For a play dismissive of possessions, “You Can’t Take It With You” demands a great deal of stuff. The play takes place in the New York City home of Martin Vanderhof, affectionately called Grandpa by almost everyone. Filling the set are (among other things) a xylophone, live kittens, caged snakes, a dish of candy, fireworks, a painter’s easel and a table, chairs and place settings for at least 8 people.

This accumulation of props indicates not the characters’ materiality but their sources of pleasure. For example, Grandpa’s daughter, Penny Sycamore, has been writing plays for 8 years on a typewriter that was delivered to the house by accident. The characters lovingly encourage one another’s hobbies, though Grandpa’s affinity for college commencements remains inexplicable, Penny’s plays are silly and her daughter Essie’s dancing is graceless.

The large cast’s well-paced and energetic performances make the 3-hour play, including intermissions, fly by. Cheryl Bruce encapsulates Penny’s frenetic energy. Beth Gautreaux unabashedly performs Essie’s awkwardness. Jon Cooper gives a wonderfully subtle performance as Mr. De Pinna, who delivered ice to the house years before and never left. Cooper’s character appears less eccentric than the rest, though several fireworks and a toga later, we know better.

Accolades must go to Cliff Cato as Grandpa. Cato achieves a magnificent balance of eccentricity, profundity and self-awareness. Cato renders Grandpa the most accessible and relatable character in the play, even more so than those who remain immured in worldly values.

Coleman’s decision to remain faithful to the original staging and language is well executed. Updating the play might have made the topicality of its themes more apparent. “You Can’t Take It With You” addresses distrust of the government, domestic terrorism, foreign conflicts and racial and class divisions. Hart and Kaufman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play spoke to audiences who had endured the Depression, the Great War and the Russian Revolution, and it continues to speak to us today.

If You Go:

WHAT: “You Can’t Take It With You” by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman

WHEN: June 6-June 29, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m.

WHERE: Desert Rose Playhouse, 6921 Montgomery NE

HOW MUCH: $12 for all tickets. Call 881-0503 for reservations or information.

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